The present invention relates to single point watering (SPW) systems for lead-acid batteries, and more particularly to valve-manifold assemblies for use in such systems.
Valve-manifold assemblies have become an important component in SPW systems used on monobloc batteries. Examples of such assemblies are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,029,786, issued Apr. 18, 2006 to Campau; U.S. Pat. No. 6,782,913, issued Aug. 31, 2004 to Campau; U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,338 to Campau; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,229, issued May 8, 2001 to Campau. These assemblies address the need to simplify tubing connections in watering systems, reduce the number of parts, and reduce installation time. They are widely used in marine, golf cart, recreational vehicle (RV), and mobile equipment applications.
However, in many applications, battery compartments are so limited in space that these manifolds cannot be used on the batteries because the manifolds would interfere with structure above the batteries, such as golf cart seats. Consequently, known manifolds cannot be used in applications where the height or space above the battery is limited. And therefore manifolds cannot be used in a wide variety of applications in which their use would be desirable.